The rain started to fall heavily.

The cold air currents brought colder and colder rain, and based on the weather in this region in previous years, this may be the last rain before snowfall, and Kant has always been the rainiest place in the entire South, and this is no exception.

The raindrops had formed a curtain of rain, hanging in the sky slanting with the wind, splashing on the wilderness, on the towns, on the façade of the old castle of the Kant family, and the rain gathered into a stream of water, flowing down the dark red spires and black facades that had been mottled and convex by time, and taking on a black oily texture in the darkening skylight.

But the heavy outer walls of the castle cut off the sound of wind and rain outside, and also the growing cold, in the lobby of the castle, the magic crystal lamp illuminated all the corners, and the old days of even if it was full of lights would be shadowy somehow disappeared, and now the entire castle is brightly lit by the magic lights, plus the roaring fireplaces and braziers everywhere, the whole family castle is full of light and warmth.

The servants diligently wiped down the tables, chairs, lampstands, and statues everywhere, so that all these things with history and family glory glittered in the lights, and they talked about the increasingly cold weather outside, about the harvest of crops and medicinal herbs in the territory this year, and about the distinguished guests that the Viscount had to entertain today—the whole castle had been cleaned since two days ago, and everything had been renewed.

Then they saw the old butler of the castle, Mr. Carter, who was old but still strong-legged, running down the stairs of the hall in a hurry, followed by the maid and the steward, who ran like a gust of wind through the hall to the door, and the chief maid shouted to the clumsy maids: "Put away the bucket quickly!" "Don't leave the rag on the countertop." "Silly girl, go back to the kitchen! Can't let the Duke see a low-level maid in a dirty skirt standing in the hall, you understand?! "All back to their places! The guests are coming! ”

Viscount Victor Kant descended the stairs on the second floor, and when the butler was about to touch the door, he stood in the center of the hall, a position that would allow him to welcome his guests with open arms at the most appropriate distance, without making the guests wait too long and embarrassing, nor making the owner of the castle eagerly like an inferior servant.

The old butler came to the gate, took out his handkerchief and wiped his hands carefully, and counted the time silently in his mind, estimating when the knock would sound according to the hour when the tower's guards delivered the news and the speed of his own movements.

When he silently counted to thirty, there was a knock at the door.

A distinguished guest like the Duke could not be allowed to knock on the door a second time, even if it was only the Duke's coachman or the guards who were in charge of knocking, but it would be unseemly to open the door immediately, so Carter counted three more times in his mind, and before the second knock sounded, he ordered the soldiers on both sides of the door to pull the roulette wheel.

The extremely heavy "door" that could withstand the eighty-two impacts of the battering ram opened with the power of the hinges and the roulette wheel, and the heavy creaking sound seemed to carry the majesty of the Kant family for 300 years.

And a man with seven hundred years of majesty walked through the door, and the cold wind and rain swept into the hall behind him.

Immediately a servant stepped forward to take the cloak or hat that the guest had untied, and a handyman ran out to pick up the carriage that was parked outside, and Gawain walked into the main hall of Fort Conder with Amber and Knight Philip, and he saw an old nobleman with almost white hair, many age spots on his face, and a long black and red coat greeted him with open hands, this Viscount Victor Kant was older than he thought, but his legs and feet were obviously good.

"Ah, today the castle welcomes the most honored guest of all time, a living legend!" Viscount Kant exclaimed, "I'm sorry to let you come in such bad weather—if only I could have a spell to control the heavens." ”

"Actually, I like rainy weather very much," Gawain did not accept the viscount's hug, only shook hands with the other party, this is not indifference, but the rules of the meeting between the high and low titles: the low titles must show a considerable degree of enthusiasm and respect, but unless the two sides are clearly subordinate, the high titles must not be accepted, but should also be polite to a certain extent, these messy traditions are simply troublesome in Gawain's eyes, but at this time to abide by it will not lose a piece of meat," I had seen the fertile land of Kant before the rain fell, and after the rain fell, I saw a nice rain scene, which was worth it. ”

"It is best if you are satisfied," laughed Victor Kant, smiling peacefully and calmly, like a normal, old and well-educated old gentleman, "I have prepared a feast for you, in the dining room at the back of this hall. ”

Amber has been standing behind Gawain with her head down, she is very uncomfortable with such a serious and "aristocratic" occasion, so she rarely keeps quiet, but when she hears "eat", her ears still betray herself, and the pointed ears from elven blood immediately tremble, turning around her head like a radar, as if searching for more information related to "eating".

Gawain smiled and secretly looked at the old viscount in front of him.

Old, but still healthy, with a calm smile, a gentle temperament with a little lightness, and there is no trace of cultist-related aura on him.

However, this is not a basis for judgment.

Smiling, he accepted the old viscount's invitation to a banquet and walked with Amber and Knight Philip to the depths of Kant's castle.

……

At the same time, in the Silver Castle in the city of San Sunil, the old king Francis II was frowning at a sealed letter in front of him.

These secret letters are from all over the kingdom by the king directly canonized by the "royal nobles", including the three border archdukes around the territory of the existence of such figures, or more directly is the "eyeliner", this inheritance from the founding of the monarch system has been continuous for seven hundred years, is an important reliance on the control of the entire country by the Ansu royal family, the civil strife in the fog moon and the "illegitimate weakness" of the second dynasty once made this system useless, but after a hundred years of reconstruction, Especially under the successive compromises made by several dukes for the sake of the stability of the kingdom, this network of information belonging to the king is still working as effectively as it was during the First Dynasty.

Most of the nobles directly canonized by the king are located in the south, and the remaining small are distributed in other parts of the kingdom, and the secret letters sent back by these eyeliners on weekdays all report the situation in their respective lands, and those situations are very different, basically there is no common point, but the secret letters that have come back recently have a tendency that makes Francis II faintly uneasy-

There are more and more reports of the activity of various dark sects, and they are increasing everywhere in the country.

Although to this day these additional reports account for less than 10% of the country, they are so widely distributed that they are enough to worry the old king.

Ansu does have a rotten system, but the kings are basically smart people.

Now before him was a secret letter from Viscount Andrew Leslie in the South, which contained more important information than the other nobles had reported:

The Cultists of the Society of the Dead appeared in Tanzania, and the cultists infiltrated the castle and used sorcery to control some of the personnel, but with the help of Duke Gawain Cecil, the Duke eliminated the cultists who were entrenched in the land.

The old king would not have known that Viscount Andrew Leslie had hidden a lot of the truth in this secret letter, such as the eternal tablet that had fallen into Gawain's hands, and the details of his own control by the cultists, and he had consciously lowered the urgency of the whole matter a lot - but even so, the information revealed in this secret letter was still enough to make the old king feel terrified.

Originally, the cultists who only dared to operate in the shadows directly invaded the mansion of a local nobleman this time!

They used to make the real nobles nervous whether they sacrificed the living or performed the ritual with the bones of the dead, because those acts happened to the "untouchables", and those cultists seemed to be very good at abiding by the bottom line of the game and never put their hands into the aristocracy, but now ...... The wind has changed.

It happened at this time, at the time when the relationship between Ansu and the Typhon Empire was at its most tense, and Francis II was a little relieved when he knew that the Typhon Empire would not start a war this winter, and thought that he could take this opportunity to further strengthen the border armament and lay a good foundation for the war, but now he suddenly felt that those cultists probably didn't want him to have this spare.

Just when the old king was frowning, a warm feeling suddenly filled the room.

He looked up in surprise, just as Veronica, dressed in a white priest's robe, walked into the room.

With a smile and a little coquettishness, the "Holy Princess" walked towards her father: "Father, I asked Lord Aiden, and he said that you are still in the study. ”

"Veronica, my daughter...... Why are you here today? Francis II looked at Veronica with some surprise, his daughter, who was still a princess but was already a fully converted cultist of the God of Light, and who spent most of her time in the Basilica of the Light, rarely returning to Silver Castle.

"Have you forgotten? Today is the day I leave the cathedral and come to see you in the castle," Veronica said with a smile, drawing the insignia of the God of Light on her chest, "Serve the Lord, and you must not forget to serve your parents, this is the doctrine of the Light. ”

"Look at my brain," the old king couldn't help but pat himself on the head, "I've misremembered the day!" ”

"It's okay, the burden of the kingdom is on you, and you should take the responsibility of the king first," Veronica said, noticing the tired look on Francis II's face, she raised her hand to summon a holy light, using magic to relieve her father's mental pressure, "Father, what happened?" ”

Francis II sighed: "The cultists, the Society of the Dead of Everything, the Order of the Sleepers, and the fragmentary small sects like the Blackstone Sect and the Followers of the Abyss, I don't know what kind of nerves have been made, and they are all starting to look for trouble in this winter day. ”

Hearing the word "cultist", Veronica, who is a devout believer in the Holy Light, immediately couldn't help frowning: "May the Holy Light save those poor people who have been violated by the mob...... Cultists are always spreading everywhere, but unfortunately, except for the Holy Light Sect and the God of War Sect, the divine magic of other sects is too powerless to face the evil magic of those cultists. ”

Francis sighed: "Don't worry, those evil people don't dare to cause trouble in the royal city." ”

Veronica glanced at the secret letters with special marks from all over the kingdom, folded her hands on her chest, and said reverently, "The Holy Light will shelter Ansu." ”